(http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/st
But a recent bomb scare leads police to discover the gadgets concealed all over Taipei, ending the puzzle of why so few have been caught speeding
By Lawrence Chung
STRAITS TIMES TAIWAN BUREAU
TAIPEI – A device hidden illegally on a tree to warn motorists of anti-speeding traps was mistaken for a bomb, which led police to uncover even more of such gadgets in all sorts of concealments, including street lamps and cracks in the walls.
The discovery had unravelled the puzzle as to why so few offenders were being booked for speeding recently.
If not for the bomb scare, the traffic police of Taiwan would have remained in the dark when it toughened the traffic law today to inflict more severe punishments on the island's legion number of errant motorists. In the past week, armed with high-tech electromagnetic wave tracers, police have left no stone unturned at major roads where speed detectors are installed to ferret out the illegal transmitters.
This tiny gadget can send signals to drivers and warn them against speeding when approaching junctions where speed detectors are installed.
The transmitters, camouflaged with green paint or green scotch tape, are placed on trees, street lamps, electricity poles, rain shelters or even in the crack of a wall – anywhere close to the speed detectors, a police officer said.
'These anti-speed-detecting sensors are put up by illegal suppliers who want to boost the effectiveness of those sensors they have already sold to motorists,' the officer told The Straits Times.
'The transmitters pick up signals from the police detectors and send them to the sensors installed in the cars of drivers who like speeding,' he continued.
'When a speeding driver hears a beeping sound, he would slow down just before the anti-speed camera could catch him and have him booked for speeding,' he added.
The officer said police recently discovered the trick when handling a report about a bomb planted on a tree near a speed detector.
'Someone called the police saying they found an object hanging on a branch, which they suspected was a bomb.
'We sent some officers to deal with the object and discovered it was a transmitter,' the officer said.
It was only after much careful study that the purpose of the unusual gadget was determined, he said.
The officer said the police then started combing the roadsides.
Police patrols were told to use a stick to poke deep into trees from time to time.
In some instances, a transmitter did fall to the ground.
He said many Taiwanese drivers loved speeding – a major cause for the yearly average of 2,200 traffic fatalities.
Under the revised Bill, those caught having installed a sensor in their car would be fined up to NT$2,400 (S$124) and suspended from driving for a month.
The device would also be seized.
The revised Bill also targets drink drivers with a maximum fine of NT$60,000, up from the previous NT$12,000, and their licences would be suspended for one year, up from the current six months.
Also, drag racers would see their cars being confiscated under the revised Bill.